Local Open Government Blog : Open Government Law : Foster Pepper Law Firm : Northwest, Seattle, Spokane, Portland Lawyer & Attorney

Responding to complaints about Dr. Cornu-Labat, Quincy Valley Hospital conducted two ad hoc investigations concerning separate allegations of intoxication and incompetency to practice medicine.  The ad hoc investigations failed to uncover enough evidence to substantiate either claim.  However, hospital administrators “remained concerned” for the Doctor, placed him on paid administrative leave, and referred him to the Washington Physicians Health Program.  After Dr. Cornu-Labat refused to visit WPHP, which precluded WPHP from issuing a recommendation on his fitness to practice medicine, the Hospital fired him. 

Dr. Cornu-Labat filed separate Public Records Act requests for documents relating to both investigations.  The Hospital denied the first request, claiming the Hospital was not an agency subject to the PRA and that the records relating to the intoxication investigation were “investigative” and exempt under RCW 42.56.240.  His second, third, and fourth requests sought documents from both investigations, and the Hospital eventually denied those requests under PRA exemptions specific to the healthcare industry. 

The Grant County Superior Court held that the peer review exemption cited by the Hospital did not apply because under RCW 4.24.250 (and RCW 42.56.360) peer review committees must be regularly constituted and consist of professional peers.  The ad hoc investigations here included non-physicians. 

The Washington Supreme Court reversed and held that the plain language of RCW 4.24.250 extended the exemption to committee records of non-physician staff sitting on the committee.  RCW 42.56.360 did not narrow the scope of “peer review committee” for the purposes of exempting records from disclosure under RCW 4.24.250.  Because other peer review statutes allow officers, directors, and employees to sit on review committees, the Hospital’s ad hoc investigations qualified as peer review committees even though non-physicians participated. 

The Court remanded on this issue to determine whether the investigations were a function of regularly constituted committees or whether the investigations were conducted by ad hoc committees not entitled to the exemptions under RCW 4.24.250.  The Court also remanded to determine whether the records sought embodied the proceedings of a formal meeting of the Hospital board (or its staff or agents) concerning the Doctor’s clinical privileges and therefore exempt from disclosure under RCW 70.44.062(1)).  If the records were generated during a general investigation into Dr. Cornu-Labat’s alleged misconduct, then this exemption would not apply. 

Finally, the Court rejected the Hospital’s argument that the confidentiality provision of Dr. Cornu-Labat’s employment contract precluded the Doctor from requesting hospital records involving members of its medical staff.  The Doctor’s identity and his employment contract were irrelevant “because the PRA states that agencies may not inquire into the identity of the requestor or the reason for the request.”  Employment contracts “cannot override the PRA.”  

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 The Tri-City Herald reports that the Pasco City Council, in a 5-2 decision on Monday, adopted a new policy for handling public records by creating two processing tracks based upon on the complexity of the request. The new policy is intended to help the City process relatively simple requests quickly and efficiently, without the need to be held up when staff resources are required for large, more complex requests.

Under the policy, city staff are required to use an evaluation sheet to determine whether the request is “routine” or “complex.” The factors considered are:

(1) the general, expansive or all inclusive nature of the request;
(2) the number of departments involved;
(3) the location of records and available method of searching records;
(4) the potential number of records implicated;
(5) the rights of third parties;
(6) the need for clarification of the request;
(7) administrative tasks necessary to process the request;
(8) the amount of time needed to review documents for applicable exemptions;
(9) the need for legal review of the public records request;
(10) the format of relevant records; and
(11) other relevant circumstances

A request that scores 8 points or less on the evaluation sheet is considered a “Routine” request, while a request that scores 9 points or more is considered “Complex.” City staff (i.e. the City Clerk) will then spend 50% of available time processing Routine requests and 50% of available time processing Complex requests. The agenda report describes this policy as being similar to that implemented in grocery stores with “express lanes,” for those customers with a limited number of items.

Pasco’s policy also provides requestors the option to simplify their request in order to jump from the regular lane into the “express lane” and sets forth an appeals process for those requestors who wish to appeal their initial score.

The City Council plans to review the policy in six months to see how it's working and whether further changes are needed.

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Last Friday, February 22, was the first major deadline for legislation to stay under consideration in the Washington State Legislature this session. Bills had to pass out of policy committees by 5 p.m. (except for bills in the House fiscal committees and Senate Ways & Means and Transportation committees where the deadline is March 1).

The following bills are still alive following last Friday’s deadline. Some have been modified, while some remain in their original form.  The next important date for legislation is March 13, 2013, the last day for bills to be considered in their house of origin (full legislative calendar here).

SHB 1198: Training of Public Officials and Public Record Officers
This bill would require the Attorney General to develop and implement training programs for the Public Records Act and Open Public Meetings Act and requires members of governing bodies and elected officials (within 90 days of taking oath) and public records officers (at regular intervals) to complete the training courses.

SHB 1037: Cost Recovery Mechanism for Public Records Requests
This bill would authorize an agency to charge a fee to recover the cost of furnishing a public record, including an electronic record, where the request is for a commercial purpose and not otherwise exempted. However, an agency would be prohibited from assessing the fee if the requestor is a member of news media, a nonprofit organization, an educational institution, or certain other persons and entities entitled to obtain the requested information or exempted by the bill.

SHB 1128: Injunctions and Time Limitations on Public Records Requests
This bill would authorize an agency to seek an injunction against public records requests if certain conditions are met.  These conditions include harassing or retaliatory requests, requests that create an undue burden, safety threats arising from requests, or requests that would assist criminal activity. An agency would also be able to limit the number of hours it devotes to responding to public records requests, if the agency makes certain documents publicly available and meets other conditions.

HB 1203: Exempting Personal Information Relating to Children
This bill would add a new exemption to the Public Records Act for personal information contained in any file maintained by the Department of Early Learning for a child enrolled in a licensed child care.

SHB 1418/HB 1763: Hours of Availability for Smaller Local Agencies
No action was taken on HB 1763. However, SHB 1418 would allow public agencies that do not maintain office hours for a minimum of 30 hours per week to post directions about how to make public records requests. This bill would also establish the date of receipt of a public records request as the date of such smaller agency’s next regularly scheduled meeting and requires the agency to respond to a request at the next regularly scheduled meeting.

SB 5171/ HB 1299/ HB 1298: Sunshine Committee Recommendations
No action was taken on HB 1299. However, SB 5171 and HB 1298 would add language to the Public Records Act clarifying the exemption for sexual assault victim information and exempting information contained in a local or regionally maintained gang database. SB 5171 also repeals the exemption for data on closed medical malpractice claims that may reveal the identity of a claimant, health care provider, health care facility, insuring entity, or self-insurer.

SB 5169: More Sunshine Committee Recommendations

This bill would implement certain recommendations of the Sunshine Committee including clarifications on the personal information exemption and public access to applications for some executive positions.

The following bills failed to make the cutoff and are considered “dead.” However, a bill may be resurrected if it finds its way onto another bill with a broad enough title (although unlikely).

HB 1197: Public Comment on Proposed Action
This bill would have required the governing body of a public agency to allow for public comment on any proposed action.

HB 1714: Recordings of Executive Sessions
This bill would have authorized governing bodies to record closed executive session meetings and exempted the recordings from disclosure under the Public Records Act. A court would be authorized, upon finding that a public agency intentionally violated the Open Public Meetings Act, to order recording of closed executive sessions for two years.

HB 1019: Identification of Public Records Requestors
This bill would have amended the Public Records Act to make records available for inspection and copying only to an identified person.

SB 5436/HB 1449: Specific Prosecution and Defense Documents
These bills would have provided an exemption to the Public Records Act for victim impact statements and other documents and materials provided by defendants or their attorneys during communications regarding plea agreements and sentencing recommendations.

SB 5170/HB 1297: More Sunshine Committee Recommendations
These bills would have clarified what information resulting from background checks of a guardian ad litem may and may not be disclosed to the parties in a parent-child termination action.
 

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Does a single production constitute production on an installment basis and trigger the PRA’s statute of limitations?  Divisions I and II of the Washington Court of Appeals disagree. 

In Bartz v. Department of Corrections, Division II of the Court of Appeals held that the PRA’s one-year statute of limitations runs even if the agency delivers only one production.  In other words, a single production also means “the last production… on a partial or installment basis.”  A plain reading of the statute might suggest otherwise.  “Actions under this section must be filed within one year of the agency’s claim of exemption or the last production of a record on a partial or installment basis.”  RCW 42.56.550(6). 

Division II reasoned that a literal reading would lead to an absurd result, namely: “a more lenient statute of limitations for one category of PRA requests” after the Legislature shortened the statute from five years to one in 2005. 

Yet, Division I concluded just that.  In Tobin v. Worden, 156 Wn. App. 507 (2010), Division I held that the one-year statute does not apply unless the agency claims an exemption or produces records on installment.  There, the agency did not claim an exemption and produced only a single document.  Because a single production could not be an installment, Division I concluded that the statute did not apply.  

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As the Legislature hits full stride, open government initiatives and reforms continue to make headlines and receive editorial ink.

The Tacoma News Tribune reports that newly sworn-in Attorney General Bob Ferguson wants to reinstate a full time open-government ombudsman in the Attorney General’s Office. The Tribune also notes his support for HB 1198, requiring training for public officials and employees on public records and open meetings.

Citing a potential Gold Bar bankruptcy stemming from public records act requests and lawsuits, public officials lobbied for HB 1128, which allows an agency to seek an injunction against requesters who seek to harass or intimidate the agency or its employees, the Everett Herald reports. The bill also allows agencies to limit employee hours spent compiling responses to PRA requests if those agencies provide several types of records online.

The Olympian offers a different perspective on HB1128. Citing the continuing “assault” on the Public Records Act, the Olympian’s editorial board finds the attempted tradeoff between agency efficiency and openness “unsatisfactory.”

Citing the Public Disclosure Commission’s role as election watchdog, the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin editorial board offered its support to Rep. Jim Moeller’s effort bolster PDC funding. HB 1005 would require annual fees from political committees, politicians and lobbyists who file with the PDC. Proponents expect about $600,000 a year in additional revenue for the agency.
 

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In Bennett v. Smith Bunday, the Washington Supreme Court rules that article I, section 10 of the Washington Constitution requires that only material relevant to a decision actually made by a court is presumptively public. In the absence of a court decision, records do not become part of the administration of justice and may remain sealed for good cause under a stipulated protective order.

Stemming from a marriage dissolution, Rondi Bennett and her father, Gerald Horrobin, sued the accounting firm Smith Bunday Berman Britton, alleging that the firm aided Rondi’s husband in embezzling and hiding money from jointly owned businesses. As part of discovery, Smith Bunday provided confidential nonparty tax records under a stipulated protective order, and the documents were marked “confidential.”

Although the case settled, a response filed in the court by Rondi and Gerald contained or made reference to “confidential” documents in violation of the stipulated protective order, apparently by accident. The parties agreed that Rondi and Gerald would refile redacted and sealed versions. However, Rondi and Gerald’s expert witness moved to intervene, asserted his right as a member of the public to open access to court records, and opposed the refilling because “everything was about to go underground.”

Under article I, section 10 of the Washington Constitution, court records that become part of the administration of justice are presumptively public and may be sealed from the public only upon a showing of some compelling need for secrecy. However, the public does not have an interest in documents when the court does not actually make a decision or when the documents are not relevant to the merits of a motion before the court.

Here, the “confidential” documents filed with the court were not part of the administration of justice because the parties settled prior to court disposition. The trial court had no occasion to use the information as part of its decision making process. As the Court further noted, “The supporting material cannot be relevant to a nonexistent decision.” Therefore, the “confidential” documents were not presumptively public under article I, section 10.
 

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In contrast to Washington law, the open-meetings provision of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) does not define “meetings” that are subject to the Act’s requirements. Here, the Arkansas Supreme Court concludes that submitting a draft ordinance and a memorandum in support of that ordinance does not constitute a meeting subject to the FOIA’s requirements.

In McCutchen v. City of Fort Smith, City Administrator Kelly circulated a draft ordinance expanding his hiring-firing authority, a memorandum supporting the ordinance, and other documents to five of seven members of the Fort Smith Board of Directors in advance of a Board study session. Plaintiff McCutchen sued the City, alleging that Kelly violated the open-meetings provision of the FOIA by engaging in a series of private one-on-one meetings with Board members.

Although some Board members expressed support (and others opposition) to the proposed ordinance, the Arkansas Supreme Court held that Kelly did not violate the FOIA because he did not solicit specific responses from Board members. Moreover, McCutchen failed to produce evidence that the proposed ordinance was discussed or debated prior to the study session or that Board members exchanged any correspondence about the memorandum.

The Court distinguished the prior case Harris v. City of Fort Smith, where a city administrator violated the FOIA by holding one-on-one meetings with Board members in order to obtain approval to acquire property at auction. The administrator sought secret approval, and later ratification by Board resolution, in order to avoid making public the city’s maximum bid prior to the auction. There, the administrator violated the FOIA because the individual contacts to seek Board approval constituted an informal meeting subject to the FOIA’s open-meetings provision. City Administrator Kelly did not seek similar pre-approval, here. 

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By 2009, Susan Forbes “and other persons aligned with her” had submitted 82 record requests for various City of Gold Bar public records. Many of those emails were stored on the personal email devices of the mayor, city council members, and other city staff. For over a year, the City corresponded with Ms. Forbes, fulfilling her “purposeful[ly] broad” requests through installments, but also extending its estimated times for response on several occasions. “Unsatisfied” with the delay and the absence of a privilege log outlining withheld documents, Ms. Forbes sued the City claiming the delays were not “reasonable.”

The Washington Court of Appeals, Division 1, provided some vindication for the City, if not relief, upholding a trial court’s summary judgment rejecting Ms. Forbes’ Public Records Act lawsuit. As the Court reiterated, the PRA allows a public agency to respond to a request for public records by providing a reasonable timeframe for response. The agency may fulfill requests in installments as additional requests are assembled to complete broad requests. The superior court may, however, require the agency to show that the estimate was “reasonable” under RCW 42.56.550. By analogy to FOIA and PRA case law on the reasonableness of searches, the Court found that the extensive nature of the requests, resulting in disclosure of 28,290 documents, made delays in production reasonable.

During litigation, Ms. Forbes also requested that the trial court review in camera personal emails that were not produced. The lower court declined because Ms. Forbes “did not have any clear articulation as to why such a review would be appropriate.” Division I affirmed and held that the City’s “clear and consistent record” of adequate searches in reasonable times did not merit in camera review of records not produced. Importantly, the personal emails at issue did not contain city business. The Court distinguished Mechling v. City of Monroe, where personal emails were not exempt because they contained information relating to the conduct of government. Here, no emails containing city business were withheld. Furthermore, because the personal emails were merely non-responsive, they were not withheld, and the City was not required to produce a privilege log.

The cost of responding to the voluminous requests and the related litigation has pushed the City of 2100 people to the brink of bankruptcy. One of the largest expenses (and reasons for delay) was the need to search city officials’ personal electronics and home computers, including sorting personal emails from City business. Better document management practices may not have eliminated Ms. Forbes’ issues, but it could have decreased Gold Bar’s costs.
 

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In an unpublished opinion, Division II affirmed a trial court’s grant of summary judgment against George Nervik, a 45-time Public Records Act requestor of Department of Licensing emails and attachments. The Court held that some of Mr. Nervik’s claims were time-barred by the PRA’s one-year statute of limitations and that several of his other claims were not properly preserved for appeal. However, the bulk of the opinion is devoted to Mr. Nervik’s purported request for email metadata.

Metadata associated with a public record is subject to disclosure under the PRA. But, a government agency is not required to provide metadata unless the metadata is specifically requested. Requesting emails or records in electronic format does not automatically lead to a request for metadata. Moreover, agencies have discretion in formatting records and need not provide records in electronic format. Here, Mr. Nervik requested that emails “should be in Outlook .pst format only together with all attachments....” Although .pst files presumably contain metadata, the Court held that this “mere format request” was not a specific request for metadata. In other words, requesting records in a format that contains metadata is not a request for that metadata. The Court ruled that the Department properly produced some records in hard copy for redaction and others in electronic format without metadata. Therefore, the Department was entitled to summary judgment on Mr. Nervik’s claim that it failed to disclose public records by not providing metadata.
 

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